Occasionally while visiting our neighborhood video store I hear parents wondering aloud about good “boy” videos. I tend to bristle at the notion of “boy” or “girl” movies. However, I understand what is meant and whether the question is asked of me, particularly, or anyone, generally, I do have suggestions. For boys about ten years old or older who enjoy adventure and danger, there are three pictures that come to my mind first.

The 1939 black and white version of Percival Christopher Wren’s Beau Geste starring Gary Cooper, Ray Milland and Robert Preston is one my uncle shared with my brothers and me when we were kids. My brothers loved the adventure, danger and bravery involved in three brothers running away from home to join the French Foreign Legion. Their defection immediately follows the mysterious robbery of an exceedingly valuable gemstone, the Blue Water. My brothers ate it up. What delighted me was the romance of it. The leads are remarkably brave, heroic and absolutely beautiful. In short, the 1939 version of Beau Geste is great for boys, and their sisters might enjoy it, too.

Like Beau Geste, my second and third recommendations are adventure and danger-laden films which should appeal to boys, men, and anyone who enjoys excitement and the notion of friends brave and true to each other until the end. John Huston’s 1975 film The Man Who Would Be King is based on Rudyard Kipling’s poem of the same name and, like Beau Geste, is set in a distant, exotic location. The Man Who Would Be King features Sean Connery and Michael Caine as Danny and Peachy, two British regulars recently discharged from the British Army in India who set out to the remote region of Kafiristan to become kings. Between the director, actors and the characters’ mission, this film has enough testosterone to keep any individual or group of boys going for hours. Beautifully shot on location and in color by a master director who spent decades working to get this film made, The Man Who Would Be King is a real masterpiece that deserves to be seen by any boy with a love of adventure.

Finally, one of the ultimate “buddy” films starring two of the great actors of their generation, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with Paul Newman and Robert Redford is a film for the ages. Experiencing this film could almost be considered an American right of passage. We have gifted this film to a nephew whose taste and interests were a bit of a mystery to us, and he liked it. My father watches this film whenever he sees it on television. In fact, our 10-year-old daughter watched this with us and she loved it. Beautiful cinematography, action, humor, memorable dialogue (“Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?”) and a perfect cast combine to make this a picture for any boy who has ever dreamed of being an outlaw. Interestingly, it is also almost bloodless, and the final shot is frozen, our heroes (or anti-heroes) meeting their end in a volley of bullets together, and on their feet, in our mind’s eye, forever.

While all three of these pictures certainly fit the “boy film” bill, like classics of all kinds they are really appropriate for and appreciated by either gender. I have enjoyed them repeatedly since the first time I saw them as a girl, and continue to enjoy them to this day. The same can be said for my nephew, brothers, father and husband. Maybe now a new generation of boys (and girls) is ready to experience these adventures.

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